the koala tea of mercy

is not strained, but falleth like the gentle rain from heaven...as did the bottle that was hurled at me this afternoon by the occupants of a car, flashing past in a blur of noise on the Kapiti coast road. well, i guess if you see a madwoman harvesting solanum berries from the roadside that could be one of the potential responses.
ordinarily such unruly attention-seeking would trigger my perpetual curse response however at that particular moment i had been standing, hands full of harvest, wishing i had come out armed with a container. instead i had sallied forth free of bags and other encumbrances, simply to enjoy the sunset and take the air. as one does.

fate intervened and began to strew useful things in my path, first an empty glass coke-bottle then luscious black brambleberries to fill it; then a large rusted fragment of steel, followed by a slightly smaller chunk of die-cast aluminium - and suddenly the abundance of a myriad tiny dark purple solanum berries, irresistable to a wayfaring dyer. and lo, as i stood there gazing in vain for another dumped container to fill, the gods smiled, and released one from a passing chariot.